Nabokov stops 26 shots for sixth shutout of season in 3-0
victory over Florida Panthers
SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks grabbed a five-point lead over Dallas in the Pacific Division battle for first place Tuesday with a 3-0 whitewashing of the Florida Panthers in front of 14,438 at HP Pavilion.
Evgeni Nabokov turned back 26 Panther shots to record his sixth shut-out of the season and 23rd of his career. Nils Ekman, Alyn McCauley and Marco Sturm managed goals in the Sharks’ 25th win of the year.
San Jose hosts the Phoenix Coyotes Thursday before leaving after the All-Star break on a six-game, 10-day roadtrip.
“These games are huge for us going into the All-Star break,” acknowledged Sharks coach Ron Wilson. “We have a huge roadtrip coming up. Now we have a five-point lead and we should feel pretty good about ourselves.”
Florida out-shot the Sharks 11-6 in the first period, but Ekman scored the period’s lone goal just seconds after Nabokov made a point-blank save to set up the San Jose counter-attack.
“We were a little lucky,” Ekman said about the first 20 minutes. “If they could have buried their chances, it would have been a different game.”
“We had a solid effort for the last 40 minutes,” agreed McCauley, one of three Sharks to reach the 14-goal plateau in the game. “We created enough chances to get the two points. We need to get as many points as we can this week because we face along roadtrip.”
Florida’s edge in offensive play in the first period drew an understanding reaction from the San Jose coach.
“Maybe it was human reaction, underestimating them a little bit,” said Wilson. “After (Ekman’s goal), we pretty much controlled the tempo. Nabby made a big save and we came down and scored at the other end. Fortunately, thanks to Wayne Primeau work
